Hi All,
Had the opportunity to listen to most of the AGM via the web this morning. Like many others I was very disappointed that there was no live feed via video. We have teenage kids all over the world steaming video of themselves at home using $25 web cams and we cannot get a video feed of our AGM. Hmmmmmmm.
Regardless, the info was provided over audio and powerpoint and there were some highlights I found useful.
The first is that we appear to have a balanced board of three and three with one more board position to be elected in the future. I personally nominate the president of Switzerland as the 7th and deadlock vote breaking position will require complete independence. Not sure how this will get resolved until the next shareholder vote. For the intermim we have a balance of power as stated by Parisso (?) and Richard.
I would personally not shed too many tears for Richard. From what I understand, Noront started as a post-retirement project for him and John Harvey. And a project that they did remarkedly well, especially the last four years. I believe the events of the past 14 months were starting to take there toll on somebody who was doing this for the love of the hunt, rather than the need to feed his family and become wealthy.
If Richard was in the for the money, he would have sold a lot more shares at $4 than he did (I believe he sold 15,000 shares but don't quote me). Like many, he kept did not sell out when the share price increased from .18 cents to $7 in less than 12 months. That says a lot about his faith in what is in the ground.
Being a CEO Emeritus means that the name Richard Nemis will always be associated with the company. CEOs come and go in business, but those who are the founders are sometimes recognized with this title. Many large companies like HP and IBM have people with this title. For Noront it means Richard's fingerprint will remain on the amazing company he raised.
I had to miss the Q&A section but it sounds like the answers were insincere and patronizing. This does show a change in approach but we should remember that Noront is no longer the small, family like company that it has been since it started. It is now big business where major investors bought in at a time with the market cap was 500M dollars. I bought in when the market cap was 12M. We cannot expect the company to be run in the same manner.
All that matters to me going forward is that they provide updates on a regular basis and that they increase the share price. I would even forego updates if the share price continued to move in a positive direction. At the end of the day, that is why we are all here - to see our investment grow. How it does that is up to the new board and the retained staff.
Now that all the drama is over my hope is that the business of raising Noront's profile and our share price is pursued diligently. Say what you will about the characters on the board but they do have experience and many likely have some good connections. All will be needed to take this to the next level.
I hope Richard enjoys the good life going forward and takes time to really enjoy himself, whether it be by fishing, travel, or flying in to see the occasional core sample. I wish King Richard good health and good fortune in the future.
M1.
